Palladium theologicum, Tomus quintus: De virtutibus

What is to be asked for in Prayer: where the petitions of the Lord's Prayer are expounded.

SINCE we do not know what we ought to ask for, as is said in Rom. 8, the Spirit himself asketh for us, that is, he teaches us to ask. And Christ Matth. 6 and Luke 11 taught that golden Prayer, in which are all the Treasures of Paradise, as I said above quaest. 3. Therefore in expounding it the chief Fathers have been diligent: Tertullian in his book on prayer, Cyprian on the Lord's Prayer, Cyril of Jerusalem Catech. 5, Chrysostom homilies on the Lord's Prayer, the Nyssene in five homilies, Ambrose l. 5 de Sacramentis, cap. 4, Augustine l. 2 de sermone Domini in monte, cap. 5, Cassian collat. 2 cap. 18 et seqq., Chrysologus serm. 67, and the Interpreters of Matthew cap. six.

MORE FULLY than the others our Seraphic Doctor chews, ruminates, and savors it, in 5. p. Breuil. cap. ult. 3. p. Centil. sect. 46 and on cap. 3 of the Rule, where it is imposed upon the Laity: and 3. p. Stimuli Diuini amoris, cap. 17 and on cap. 6 of the Gospel of S. Matthew. See also Suar. de orat. Fill. t. 2 cap. 2, Less. l. 2 cap. 37, Azor. p. 1 l. 9 cap. 34, Bict. quaest. 4.

HE EXPOUNDS certain petitions separately, as in 4 dist. 17 p. 2, the dubiis litt. in Pharetra, l. 2, chapter 45.

THE Holy Doctor prefaces that this prayer is most excellent of all on three counts. First, on account of its author Christ, who composed it. Second, on account of its brevity, so that it can be said more quickly and held more firmly. Third, on account of its fruitfulness, because in a few words it comprehends all things to be desired and asked for.

SINCE therefore this divine prayer contains all petitions, consequently it asks for all evils to be removed and all goods to be given, and this in seven petitions. He divides the evils into punishment and fault. Further, all of them into past, present, and future.

HE divides the evils of fault into the seven capital vices: pride, Avarice, Lust, Envy, Gluttony, and Sloth. Again, some evils are reducible both to punishment and to fault, such as temptations; for temptation as trial, or the very passion of temptation, is a punishment; but falling, and being led into temptation, is of fault. And for deliverance from all of these the golden prayer asks.

AGAIN, since there are seven principal virtues, three Theological and four Cardinal. There are also seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, by which we are strengthened in the virtues: namely the Gift of Wisdom; of Understanding, of Counsel, of Knowledge, of Piety, of Fortitude, and of the Fear of the Lord.

THERE are also seven Beatitudes: the Kingdom of heaven, the Possession of the land, Consolation; Satiety, the attainment of Mercy, the Vision of God, and the Adoption of God.

FIRST he opposes seven principal gifts to the seven vices, namely, poverty of spirit against pride: Meekness against Anger: Mourning of compassion against the venom of Envy: Thirst for Justice against Sloth: Mercy against Avarice: Cleanness of heart against Gluttony, and Peace against Lust; or with these last two exchanged, cleanness against the uncleanness of Lust, and Peace against insatiable Gluttony.

FURTHER, we can also oppose the seven principal virtues to the seven vices: Faith, by which the intellect is taken captive into obedience to Christ, is opposed to pride. Hope, by which every thought is cast upon the Lord, to Avarice: Charity to Envy: Prudence to headlong Anger: Justice, by which due obedience is rendered to God and right to one's neighbor, to Sloth: Fortitude to flaccid Lust, and Temperance to Gluttony: The Holy Doctor considers all these septenaries as comprehended in the seven petitions, as we shall say presently.

HE PREFACES, moreover, an exordium necessary for the narration: Pater noster. He placed first the name that is sweet and the name of confidence. It is not said Lord; but Father, because he allures us not as servants compelled by fear, but as children by love to the bosom of the Father; for this is the difference between the petition of a servant and of a son. Hence Malach. 1: If I be a Father, where is my honor? and if I be a Lord, where is the fear? For God is invoked as Father because he is the Father who begot the Son, namely like unto himself. God moreover created us in the beginning to his own image. Therefore from creation he obtains the title of Father. Deuter. 32: Is not he himself thy Father, who made, and created thee? Then through the adoption of grace he made us sons of God, Matth. 5: Be ye perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect.

FIRST, then, the eternal Father is the begetter of the Son by nature, as Christ himself says: Matth. 11, Ioan. 1 and the following. To display therefore that surpassing confidence which is indeed necessary for prayer, he teaches us to invoke him thus: Pater noster, Qui es in caelis. Hence confidence is increased, while we acknowledge the most loving Father, most powerful to do all things, inasmuch as he is King of heaven and on the throne of majesty commands all things; and: All things whatsoever he would, the same hath he done in heaven, and in earth, as the Holy Doctor expounds with S. Cyprian loc. cit., the Nyssene homil. 2 on this prayer, and others. He is said also to dwell in the spiritual heavens, that is, in the saints, as the Holy Doctor expounds here on cap. 6 of Matth. with S. Ambrose lib. 5 de sacr. cap. 4 and Augustine lib. 2 de serm. Domini in monte, cap. 9. Now the saints (says the Holy Doctor) are called heavens in a fourfold way. First, on account of the sublimity of their life, Paul saying, Philip. 3: Our conversation is in heaven. Second, on account of the clarity of their good works, Philip. 2: Among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life, and Matth. 4: Let your light shine before men, etc. Third, on account of their firmness in their purposes, Psalm. 32: By the word of the Lord the heavens were made firm. Fourth, on account of the seat of God resting in them through grace. Isa. 66: Heaven is my seat. We invoke therefore this heavenly Father also, that we may be mindful to ask of him first the things that are heavenly, according to that: Seek ye first the kingdom of God.

THE exordium being finished, there follows the exposition of the necessities and the asking for the gifts: the asking is made, moreover, that evils may be removed and goods granted. First he asks for the knowledge of the First True One: Second, for the attainment of the Arduous One: Third, for the attainment of the Good.

THE FIRST: Sanctificetur nomen tuum; For since the end is first in intention, therefore in these two first petitions are asked those things that touch upon the end; and afterwards in the following petitions the means to the end.

THEREFORE first we ask that the holy name of God and his majesty be sanctified, not in itself, since it is holiness itself, but in us, through the knowledge of the Divine majesty and the love of it, as the saints expound: Cyprian, Ambrose loco cit., the Nyssene oratione 3, Augustine lib. 2 de sermone Domini, cap. 10 and others.

THE NAME of God indeed is acclaimed holy and terrible, Psalm. 110: Holy and terrible is his name. and Deuter. 28: It is admirable, Psalm. 8: it is Praiseworthy. Psalm. 112. Now the name of God is terrible as regards the Power, which is attributed to the Father; admirable as regards the Wisdom, which is attributed to the Son; Praiseworthy as regards the Goodness, which is ascribed to the Holy Spirit. Let therefore the most holy Name of God be sanctified in us, that is, let the Terrible be confirmed in us in the knowledge of the supreme power; the Admirable in the knowledge of the first truth; and the Praiseworthy in the knowledge of the supreme Goodness. He says therefore: sanctificetur nomen tuum, as if to say: give us the Spirit of Faith and of wisdom, that we may know and taste how sweet thou art, and may this generate in us peace, and this against lust, because the Prophet says, Psalm. 37: There is no peace to my bones because of my sins.

THE SECOND petition: Adveniat regnum tuum. The kingdom of God is indeed called the Church militant, as is had in Matth. 13: They shall gather out of his kingdom all scandals. The Gospel also is so called: The kingdom of God is evangelized, Luke 16. The eternal beatitude is also called the Kingdom of God, Matth. 13: the just shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. The advent of the kingdom is therefore asked: Give us the spirit of understanding, whereby cleansed in heart we may understand in the present that thou reignest through Faith, and may we hope for that arduous good, until we see thee in the Kingdom by sight; in the meantime keeping watch, lest given over to Gluttony we be found drunk and unprepared, distracted by the cares of this age, because wine and drunkenness take away the heart. Osee 4.

THE THIRD petition: Fiat voluntas tua, now we begin to ask principally for the means to attaining the end, namely, the execution of the commandments, above all of Charity, which is the fullness of the law, as the Holy Doctor expounds with D. Augustine cap. 11. The will of God indeed shines forth in creation, Psalm. 103: All things whatsoever he would, the same hath he done. In sanctification, prima Thessal. 4: This is the will of God, your sanctification. In glorification, Ioan. 6: This is the will of my Father, that everyone who seeth the Son, and believeth in him, may have life everlasting. Therefore he asks: Give us the spirit of Counsel, that we may do thy will, above all in Charity toward thee and our neighbor, because he that loveth, hath fulfilled the law; whence mercy toward neighbors follows against avarice, that we may attain mercy, as is said Matth. 5: Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

THE FOURTH petition is: Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie.

THE Holy Doctor distinguishes a threefold bread. The first is corporal, of which Genes. 3: In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread. The second is sacramental, prima Corinth. 11: Whosoever shall eat this bread, etc. There is also the eternal heavenly bread, Ioan. 6: I am the living bread, which came down from heaven, and this is especially called supersubstantialis. Therefore D. Hieron. ad Matth. 6 says supersubstantial bread is that which says: I am the living bread, which surpasses all creatures.

WE ASK therefore for these breads, as D. Augustine says cap. 12 in the quoted sermon: Daily bread, so called; either the necessaries of this life, or the Sacrament of the body of Christ, intending both.

ON these three breads the Holy Doctor takes that of Luke 11: Friend, lend me three loaves. The first bread is for the sustentation of the body: The second for the refreshment of the soul on the way: The third in the fatherland for eternal fruition. He says therefore: Panem nostrum supersubstantialem da nobis hodie; for thus it is to be read from the Hebrew, says Blessed Jerome; and thus the LXX are wont to translate the same name from the Hebrew, for the Hebrew Segula signifies supersubstantial. We ask therefore the nourishment necessary for the body, and all the aids of the soul, above all the most holy bread of the Eucharist, that the soul may be strengthened, and that we may afterwards obtain in the fatherland the bread of Angels.

HENCE we implore the gift of Fortitude, that it may give us strength together with the bread, which confirmeth the heart of man. We ask the hunger of justice, that we may attain the beatitude of Satiety, and in the meantime against sloth let us breathe after justice, because Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall be filled.

THE FIFTH petition: Dimitte nobis debita nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. The manner of a great petition: it declares that debts are to be forgiven us: Sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. We ask here, moreover, for the medium per accidens of beatitude, that he may remit to us the debts of sins, that we may attain beatitude, as the Holy Doctor notes from D. Augustine lib. 2 de sermon. Domini in monte, chapter 1; and he proves this by that passage Matth. 18 where God is introduced in the parable as unwilling to forgive him who was unwilling to forgive others: Thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besoughtest me: shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, as I also had compassion on thee? And thus, says the Lord: For if you will forgive men their offenses, your heavenly Father will forgive also you their offenses; but if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your offenses. Wherefore, as the same Saint Augustine says there: Then we are convicted of acting against this rule, if we do not forgive those who ask pardon; because we wish pardon to be granted to us also, who ask it, from the most benign Father. We ask therefore the gift of knowledge, that we may know how to give and build up what we owe, and let us learn to forgive, being moved even by compassion for others, not to mention our own sins, and thus may we have consolation from the indulgence granted to us, inasmuch as we also, against the venom of envy, have through charity toward our neighbor remitted it to him.

THE SIXTH petition is: Ne nos inducas in tentationem.

THE Holy Doctor observes, moreover, that there are many kinds of temptation. For there is the temptation of provocation, of which Exodi 17: And Moses called the name of that place Temptation, because of the altercation of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying: Is the Lord amongst us or not? There is the temptation of probation, of which Iacobi 1: Blessed is the man that endureth temptation. And Tob. 2: God permitted this temptation to befall him for this reason, that an example of his patience might be given to posterity, as also of the holy Job. There is also the temptation of evil persuasion, Matth. 4: The tempter coming said to him: If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. And prima Corinth. 10: God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able. Of this third kind it is understood, that God suffer us not to rush into the temptation of sin, but we pray that he may stretch forth his hand and help, as the Holy Doctor expounds with D. Augustine cap. 14 loco citato, where he says: No one can be without the temptation of probation. Therefore it is not prayed for here that we be not tempted in any way; but that we be not brought into temptation. As if anyone who must be examined by fire should not pray not to be touched by fire, but not to be burnt up. For the furnace proveth the vessels of the potter, and the temptation of tribulation the just men, Ecclesiast. 27. Joseph was tempted by the enticement of lust, but was not brought into temptation. Susanna was tempted, but neither was she induced, or brought into temptation, and many others.

THEREFORE we ask for the spirit of piety and meekness of spirit, that by exercising ourselves in holy works, toward which all piety is profitable, we may flee idleness, the fuel of temptation, and with a meek spirit bear up until the coming of the salvation of the Lord, neither rendering to our neighbor evil for evil, as was said in the preceding petition, let us avoid headlong Anger, foreseeing with prudence and being watchful against perils, and so may we possess the land of the living, which is given to those who patiently endure temptations, as Tobias and Job are said to have possessed it, of whom it is said: Blessed are the meek: for they shall possess the land.

THE SEVENTH petition: Sed libera nos a malo, namely of fault, of which Rom. 6: Being delivered from sin, made servants to God. And from the evil of misery, of which Rom. 8: The creature also shall be delivered from the servitude of corruption, and above all from the evil of eternal punishment, Osee 13: I will deliver thee out of the hand of death.

HE ASKS therefore for the spirit of the fear of the Lord, whereby fleeing the more eagerly to God he may ask for deliverance from evils, and through the virtue of poverty of spirit let us humbly beseech God, as Blessed Cyprian says. For thus we ask, as D. Ambrose also expounds, to be delivered from the evil Demon, lest by pride he draw us down to ruin.

HE CONCLUDES these petitions saying: Amen, which signifies faithfully, as S. Hieronym. interprets Matth. 6, or truly, as, by the testimony of Jerome, Aquila interprets it, or so be it, as Ambrose explains in Psalm. 40 on the words: fiat, fiat, where the Hebrew has: AMEN.

WHERE the Holy Doctor notes besides that at the end of books the Hebrews are wont to put one of three: either Amen, which signifies truly and faithfully, or Salab, which signifies forever, or Salom, which signifies peace. Finally he adds that Amen is sometimes a name, as Apoc. 3: These things saith: Amen, the faithful and true witness, who is the beginning of the creation of God. Sometimes adverbially, as Amen, Amen I say to thee: this day thou shalt be with me in Paradise, Luke 23. Sometimes verbally, as here, that is: may all the things foretold be done for us by thy grace. Hence it comes about that one who only answers Amen, so be it to another praying becomes a partaker of his prayers, which is quite suitable in vocal prayer, that one only pray and another attend. These things the Holy Doctor, from which I also deduce that the same can be taken in two other ways, that the Lord himself JESUS be invoked here as Amen, inasmuch as he never fails those who pray, but may he himself conclude our prayer with a beneficent conclusion, according to his promises, because God is faithful. Therefore from fidelity God is rightly present to those praying; yet it does not follow that he is present from justice, because he grants the things asked not in equality with our prayer, or by just distribution, but by his mercy, as I gather from the Holy Doctor, and Valentia notes disp. 6 quaestion. 2 p. 4 contra Medinam quaestion. 18 de oratione. For thus Daniel chapter 9 cried out: Not in our justifications do we prostrate our prayers before thy face, but in thy many mercies hear, O Lord, etc.

HE observes also, with Valentia, point 5, from D. Bonavent. ad 11 Lucae, who recalled only five petitions, omitting the third and the seventh; because they are contained in the others, as D. Augustin. noted in Enchir. cap. 115 and 116; for the third, that is, fiat voluntas tua, is understood in that one: Sanctificetur nomen tuum, since it is necessary to do the will of God that his name be sanctified in us. Also the seventh: Sed libera nos a malo, is understood in that one: Ne nos inducas in tentationem. Whence D. Augustin. says shrewdly that Luke, by omitting petitions of this kind, rather made them to be understood.

THE Holy Doctor observes also that Luke ends with that petition: Ne nos inducas in tentationem, in which there is doubt as to our state or fall, and therefore he does not add Amen, which is the sign of the certainty of a prayer heard: but Matthew ends in the deliverance from every evil of punishment, and thereby from death, of which prima Corinth. 15: Last of all death shall be destroyed as an enemy, and afterwards there is the certainty of salvation, therefore he ends saying: Amen, to give certainty for that time; but because, as long as we are here, we do not arrive at this certainty, therefore it is said in a low voice by the Priest in Mass. Thus the Holy Doctor ad 6 Matthaei.

HE EXPOUNDS this most sacred prayer in an altogether not dissimilar manner, according to the Gospel of Luke: When you pray, say, with heart and mouth, lest that word of Mark 7 be ever said of us: This people honoreth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. With the heart indeed, but also with the mouth, according to that Psalm. 108: I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth. He is invoked moreover as Father by reason of the condition of nature, according to that, Ephes. 3: Of whom all paternity. And Malach. 2: Have we not all one father? He is also Father by reason of the bestowal of grace, Rom. 8: You have received the spirit of adoption of sons, wherein we cry: Abba, Father. The same is had Galat. 4; he is also Father by reason of the consummation of glory, Hierem. 3: Thou shalt call me Father, and shalt not cease to walk after me. Since therefore he is Father in all these ways, he shows that we ought confidently to ask all things of him. Luke however takes these implicitly, as said to the lesser disciples; yet each prefaces the name of Father, that the prayer may fly to God on reverence and confidence as on two wings. Reverence indeed is had from the name of Father, whence Malach. 1: If then I be a Father, where is my honor? And Eccles. 3: The glory of man is from the honor of his father. And confidence is had, according to that Isa. 49: Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the fruit of her womb? Therefore Christ here infers: If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father give the good Spirit to them that ask him?

THEREFORE Beda on this passage: The prayer, which grows sweet with the paternal name, gives me confidence for the obtaining of all my petitions

PRESENTLY he begins to expound the petitions: For three things are to be asked of God the Father. The first is the end, which is the consummation of glory. The second the consummation of grace, which is the nearest medium. The third more remote, namely the forgiveness of pardon. And these three are ordered according to the degree and order of greater dignity. To the consummation of glory concur perfect knowledge and perfect reverence, and according to these are the two first petitions. For the consummation of grace there suffices the assiduous succor of heavenly nourishment, and this is asked third. For the forgiveness of pardon two things concur, namely the remission of fault and the removal of punishment, and these are asked in the two last petitions.

BUT since the perfection of reverence is attended to not only in affection but also in effect, therefore Matthew adds: Fiat voluntas tua. Again, because the removal of punishment is attended to not only as regards the removal of temptations but also of afflictions, therefore Matthew joins the seventh to the two last: Sed libera nos a malo.

THUS therefore he asks all things that are necessary, the removal of evil and the bestowal of good: Again, the removal of the evil of fault, and of punishment, or of the evil that we suffer and the evil that we do: but the evil of punishment can be subdivided; because one kind is the occasion of fault, and thus is temptation; another holds the ratio of mere punishment, and is tribulation; and thus from that division we have the three last petitions. We ask moreover for good, either eternal or temporal. If eternal, either on the part of the intellect or on the part of affection, and thus there are two petitions. But affection is ordered with respect to majesty and with respect to goodness, and thus that petition is doubled in the first division, but tripled by subdivision. If indeed temporal good is asked, it is asked either with reason of the mind or with reason of the body; but because corporal good ought not to be desired except on account of the spiritual, therefore both according to Luke and according to Matthew one petition is made for both, and thus the sufficiency of the divisions of either Evangelist is plain.

THERE are therefore five petitions according to Luke (says the Holy Doctor) ordered according to greater nobility: In the first is asked perfect knowledge of God: In the second perfect reverence in affection: In the third sufficiency in virtue: In the fourth indulgence in guilt: In the fifth victory in conflict; and in these are implicated the seven brought forward from Matthew. Sanctificetur nomen tuum. Here is asked knowledge of God, whence his name be sanctified, that is, honored as known by us, of which Psalm. 75: In Judea God is known and Malach. 1: For from the rising of the sun even to the going down, my name is great among the Gentiles. And Hierem. 31: All shall know me from the least to the greatest.

A THREEFOLD knowledge, moreover, is asked. The first through faith: For he that cometh to God must believe. Hebr. 11. The second, to know what God is not, of which Augustin: Thou wilt comprehend much, if thou comprehendest what God is not. The third is to know him as he is, of which prima Corinth. 13. The first knowledge delivers from folly; for Psalm. 13: The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God. The second delivers from Idolatry, by which that which is not God is worshiped, 1. Corinth. 8: An idol is nothing. The third delivers from all misery, because then we shall be like to him, because we shall see him as he is, 1. Ioan. 3.

HENCE D. Chrysost. in the imperfect work, on cap. 6 Matth: The name of God is sanctified in us when we shall know him holy, fear him, and vigilantly and carefully guard, lest perhaps we violate the sanctity of his name in us. And this will be when we shall be wholly devoted to him, and by no distraction shall our minds be infected, which will be in glory, according to that Psalm. 137: I will sing to thee in the sight of the angels; I will worship towards thy holy temple, and I will give glory to thy name. For thy mercy, and for thy truth; for thou hast magnified above all things thy holy name.

THE SECOND: Adveniat regnum tuum: But then he reigns perfectly in us, when we are altogether perfectly subject to him, which will be at the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, and the Father, prima Corinth. 15, Apoc. Thou hast redeemed us, etc. and hast made us to our God a kingdom. By the advent of this kingdom no power is added to God, but obedience to men, which makes the will of God be done, as Matthew says in the third petition, in heaven, and in earth. For here obedience is not so perfect as in heaven: Therefore he said Ioan. 18: My kingdom is not of this world; and this, because in the world there are the rulers of darkness Ephes. 6; but at the end of the world power shall be taken from the demons, and all shall be rendered to Christ, as is said Daniel. 7.

THE THIRD asks for the daily bread, where the spiritual bread is asked principally. Therefore Matthew says: Panem nostrum supersubstantialem da nobis hodie. But since nevertheless we ask for everything necessary even for this life, therefore the Church with Luke says: Panem quotidianum. The Holy Doctor observes, moreover, that daily bread is asked for on account of continual necessity, but that hodie is asked, that avaricious solicitude, thinking of the morrow, may be removed.

HE NOTES moreover that the Hebrew name Socholla, according to D. Hieron. in 6 Matth., signifies both daily and supersubstantial: but the Hebrew name is Segula.

AND this Beda says ad 11 Lucae in the Gloss: Moreover daily bread is so called because it is necessary here; of whatever kind is to be granted to soul and flesh, whether it be understood spiritually, or corporally, or in both ways.

A MANIFOLD bread therefore is asked here. The first is the nourishment of this life, Eccles. 29. The beginning of the life of man is water, and bread, and clothing. The second is the understanding of Sacred Scripture, of which in Thren: The little ones asked for bread. The third is the Sacrament of the Eucharist, of which Sap. 16. I gave them bread prepared from heaven without labor, having in itself all delight, and the sweetness of every savor. And Ioan. 6: The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world. The fourth is the aid of Scripture, of which Psal. 77. Man ate the bread of Angels. And Psalm. 103. Bread confirmeth the heart of man. And Luke 14. Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the Kingdom of God. The fifth is the service of obedience; of which Ioan. 4: My meat is to do the will of my Father. With these five breads the Church is satiated, expressed in that multitude Ioan. 6. Therefore we must pray: Lord, give us always this bread.

THE FOURTH petition is: Dimitte nobis peccata nostra. For these make us debtors, of which Psalm. 36: The sinner shall borrow, and not pay. These are the debts which that woman could not pay until Eliseus multiplied the oil 4. Reg. 4. For the oil is the mercy of Christ; but because: Judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy, Iacobi 2. Therefore it is said: Siquidem et dimittimus omni debenti nobis. Whence Eccles. 28: Forgive thy neighbor that hath hurt thee: and then thy sins shall be forgiven when thou prayest. And Matth. 6: If you will forgive men their offenses; your heavenly Father will forgive you also yours. And Matth. 18, after recounting the punishment of him who was unwilling to forgive, it concludes: So shall my heavenly Father do to you, if you shall not forgive, etc. For it says, Iudith. 9. The proud have not pleased thee from the beginning: but the prayer of the humble and meek hath always pleased thee. And Isa. 1. When you shall multiply prayers, I will not hear: for your hands are full of blood.

FIFTH Luke adds the last: Et ne nos inducas in tentationem. He does not ask not to be tempted, because temptation proveth man, Psalm. 25. Prove me, O Lord, and try me. And Eccles. 35: He that is not tempted, what knoweth he? But he asks not to be overcome by temptation: God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able, prima Corinth. 10. This is also to be asked for on account of the recognition of our infirmity, according to that 2. Paral. 20. In us indeed there is not so great strength, that we may be able to resist this multitude, which rusheth upon us. But as we know not what we ought to do, this only we have remaining, that we direct our eyes to thee. Since therefore tribulation is temptation, according to that Iacobi 1: Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, therefore he who is snatched from all the evil of temptation is snatched from all the evil of tribulation; and therefore Luke does not add: Sed libera nos a malo, as a distinct petition, but expounds it, as included in this one. Therefore Beda says in the Gloss: Let each one know that he is delivered from evil in this, that he is not brought into temptation. But the reason why he does not add: Amen, I have said above.

FROM the exposition of the fourth petition you have that spiritual goods concerning salvation, together with the last end, can be asked determinately per se absolutely; but truly temporal and necessary goods, as bread and wine, are asked entirely in order to salvation. For this reason he puts one petition out of all for the spiritual and corporal bread. For thus it is licit to wish for these temporal goods, and not otherwise; and that only may be asked in praying which is licit to wish for, as D. Aug. says epist. 121.

PRAYER therefore that is absolute ought to be for three things to be obtained, pardon, grace with the virtues, and glory, as the Holy Doctor says ad 22 Lucae; therefore Christ prayed three times, and visiting the Apostles stirred them to prayer.